"You bastard!"
When Shalltear saw that Thor was only close to Alan and Hog, she immediately broke down, screaming and rushing out of the honey pot, heading straight for Hog. In a short while, the dog and the bat were playing around, splattering honey everywhere.
Seeing this, Alan didn't get angry. He knew these two guys were just playing around; they used to fight a lot. However, he still pursed his lips in exasperation, seeing Shalltear shaking the sticky residue off her body everywhere. They were truly spendthrifts; even if there was a lot, they shouldn't waste it like this.
"Enough, you two settle down and quickly pack up. We're getting ready to leave now," Alan said, affectionately scratching Thor's chin, then sternly looking at the two who were causing a ruckus.
At this moment, Shalltear was still relentlessly riding on Hog's neck, pinching his ears with her claws.
"Ow, master, Shalltear has gone crazy. I think she's probably gone stupid from being locked up in No. 1 Park. Why don't you strip her equipment and let her sober up in the sun?" Hog said painfully, turning his head to bite Shalltear, but the other party, transformed into a bat, was very agile and dodged the attacking maw with a flash.
"You're the idiot! Do you know how much I suffered in the park? How dare you mock me! Today, I'll show you how powerful I am!" Shalltear said, then pounced on Hog's face with a swift move.
Alan snorted at the sight, then walked over and flicked both of their foreheads. Shalltear and Hog, who had returned to human form, obediently squatted on the ground, both rubbing their foreheads in pain, then looking helplessly at Alan. There was nothing they could do; there was someone even more ruthless in front of them.
"Master, what should we do after taking down these breeding parks? It wouldn't be appropriate not to deal with so many civilian wizards," Shalltear put away her playful thoughts and then asked about the topic she cared about most.
"Do you still need to worry about such things? Master has already made preparations. We can take this opportunity to use these wizards to turn the tables on the Silver Spears," Hog sneered, retorting Shalltear, but after Alan glared at him again, he had no choice but to sheepishly drop his flippant attitude and seriously explain the subsequent plan to Shalltear.
After hearing Hog's explanation, Shalltear suddenly understood, then asked, somewhat puzzled, "No wonder you all wore Silver Spears disguises when you attacked. So you wanted to frame them. But if you do that, the Silver Spears will definitely know someone is impersonating them. Aren't you afraid of being exposed by them?"
"Exposed what? These parks were originally their illegal strongholds. Can they deny it? And did you forget, the Silver Spears is not an organization that can be presented openly in Germany. They are a bunch of smugglers, and who would listen to the explanations of a bunch of criminals?" Hog immediately retorted upon hearing this.
"I see. The reason they had so many people in the parks before was to use the legitimacy of these wizards to make outsiders wary. But conversely, we can also use legitimacy to make the club suffer a silent loss. That's what you mean, right?" Shalltear wasn't stupid and quickly understood the crux of the matter.
"Exactly," Alan nodded. "The Silver Spears' weakness is that they can only ever hide in the shadows. No matter how they disguise themselves, they cannot contend with the official Ministry of Magic. And the biggest problem now is that the Ministry of Magic has been infiltrated by Golden Knight from within."
"As long as Golden Knight is still in power at the Ministry of Magic, then our enemies include the official forces of Germany, and to completely eradicate the Silver Spears would be an empty talk. We cannot ensure legitimacy when directly confronting the club."
"Just like the Concentric Circles operation, if we overtly attacked the parks, their defensive forces would be enough to delay until Peter intervened. At that time, with someone backing them, the heads of these three parks would certainly not admit to being employed by the club, and this operation would ultimately come to nothing."
"Therefore, secretly occupying and controlling the three parks, while the first step of the operation, is also the most crucial link. Originally, I only intended to use the disguise of the Silver Spears to provoke resistance from these civilian wizards against the club. At the same time, indirectly strengthening Andre's faction within the Ministry of Magic, thereby weakening Golden Knight's influence, and causing internal turmoil within the club."
"But the gains from this trip far exceeded expectations. Not only did we successfully complete our predetermined goals, but we also obtained a lot of evidence from Clement regarding the Silver Spears' infiltration of the Ministry of Magic. With it, perhaps we can expand the strategic results of the next phase of the plan, ideally directly removing Golden Knight's faction from the German Ministry of Magic. This way, they will be pure criminals, and we can act freely and without restraint."
After hearing Alan's explanation, Shalltear frowned in confusion. "Just clearing them out? Why not take this opportunity to eradicate the club as well?"
"It's not as simple as you think," Alan said, shaking his head with a grim expression. "As you saw before, Golden Knight has the ability to appear in multiple places simultaneously. We still don't know how he manages to do it, so even if we directly go to war with him, it's hard to guarantee a complete resolution. Not to mention, our ultimate goal this time is actually the Rune Serpent. I'm still hoping to find that guy by following Golden Knight."
At this, Alan chuckled coldly, "Of course, while it's hard to guarantee taking down Golden Knight, using this opportunity to clip some of his wings is certainly not a problem."
"So what should we do next? Should we continue to monitor those Silver Spears?" Although Hog had no aversion to watching surveillance, and even found enjoyment in it, being cooped up every day still made him somewhat uncomfortable.
"Currently, we still need to ensure as much secrecy as possible. Exposing our target too early would make me lose the initiative. Fortunately, apart from this operation, Andre will be the main character in the upcoming plans, so we don't need to appear on the front stage. Remember, the deeper we hide, the greater the damage we inflict when we truly show our fangs," Alan said, his eyes growing colder.
"Hehe, like a venomous snake hiding in the dark, right?" Shalltear also showed a cunning smile upon hearing this. "I like that, pouncing out and biting them hard when they're completely unprepared."
Meanwhile, Hog, looking at the sinisterly smiling Alan and Shalltear, somewhat boredly raised a hind paw and scratched his head. He didn't quite understand the tactics these old schemers played, but he knew that with his master's cautious personality, he would certainly not let himself suffer a loss.
...
Time rewinds to two days ago, on the other side, inside the underground warehouse stronghold.
Just as Alan and the others were transporting magical creatures, Moody and the other dozen Aurors—no, they should now be called Silver Spears—were not idle. They spent most of the day building some necessary facilities inside the warehouse. These included over fifty temporary large compartments built with magic, using building materials dismantled from the parks. Since they were made temporarily, their design was very simple, looking much like ancient prison cells.
One side of the compartment was against a wall, and the other three sides were metal bars shaped by Transfiguration. A simple iron door was arbitrarily installed in the middle. The entire compartment looked no different from a large iron cage.
In each compartment, Moody and his team placed a large communal bunk that could accommodate ten people for sleeping. At this time, each bunk was full of people, who were the wizards and Muggles they had captured. Additionally, there were two large barrels for holding clean water, a long table, two long benches, and a crude toilet. Of course, when referred to as a toilet, it was actually just a wooden box to provide some privacy, with a chamber pot casually thrown inside.
The reason this place was built in such a crude manner was primarily because Moody had been too successful in embodying the role of a Silver Spear. Since Alan had only instructed him to guard these people, and the only requirements were to ensure no deaths, not to expose their identity, and not to be too soft on them, that was it. Then Moody naturally had to exercise his subjective initiative.
No deaths? Don't be too soft-hearted? That meant, no matter how harshly they treated these people, as long as they didn't kill them, or could save them when they were on the verge of death, it would be fine. Regardless of Alan's initial intentions, Moody understood it that way.
So, under his direction, everyone built the cells for these captives as they were now. Of course, he was still humane enough to separate men and women.
And after Moody and the others finally finished the cells and locked up all the personnel, it was noon. At this time, the hypnotic potion they had inhaled also wore off, and people slowly began to wake up. Many of these gradually waking people were still immersed in sweet dreams, as the quality of the hypnotic potion brewed by Alan was very reliable, and there were no side effects like feeling dazed or a hangover.
And as their consciousness slowly returned, they were all dazed when they saw the scene before them.
What's going on? Weren't we sleeping in our own dormitory beds last night? Why did the scene before me suddenly become so unfamiliar?
Before their eyes were rough iron bars, beneath them was a terribly hard, broken wooden board, and their noses were filled with a stuffy, decaying smell. And why are there other people lying next to me? I remember the dormitories were either double rooms or king-size rooms for couples. Where is this place? Why is the ceiling a hollow grate, but I can't see the sun?
Am I still dreaming and haven't woken up yet?